There are two fine art crayon artists in the world -- Don Marco and his son, Jeffrey Robert.

The first room was filled with Don Marco's art of the American West. His depiction of American Indians was amazing. I encourage you to check out his art here. It's astounding that anyone could produce this art using crayons.

This centerpiece of the second room was created by the people from the Cornell Museum:

Here, we watched a video about how crayons were made. This isn't the one we saw, but this video is from Sesame Street and is pretty cool.

Then we watched one about how Jeffrey Robert creates his crayon art, which is very different from his father's.

One of Jeffrey Robert's pieces of art from the Cornell Museum exhibit.

September 23, 2011

Which response was given by 6th graders to the question: "What might be a good place for a writer to begin her journey?"

A) Your home
B) School
C) Anywhere
D) A toaster
E) All of the above

The answer is E) All of the above. Middle school kids are so much fun! The smart-aleck boy who said, "Um, a toaster" will definitely land in a novel someday. My favorite answer, though, is C) Anywhere because thought and truth went into that answer.

Had a blast talking with 400 6th graders at Independence Middle School yesterday afternoon.

That was followed by a two-hour event at Barnes & Noble, where students played flute, wind instruments and sang. Lots of proud parents snapping photos.

I LOVED meeting young readers and chatting with them and their parents.

Here I am with Hannah.

A big THANK YOU to Lisa Petroccia (who appears in my book How to Survive Middle School) for inviting me. And thanks to Lauren Pfretzschner for hosting me at Barnes & Noble.

September 20, 2011

One of Dad's favorite Florida places -- The Morikami Museum and Gardens

Dad has always been a huge supporter of my books. In fact, he's been the first reader of each of my three books the moment the ARC has become available. He loved Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen. But then again, he's a huge fan of Jeopardy!

Here's Dad with the ARC for How to Survive Middle School.

Dad's a glass half full kind of guy. In fact, he's a glass completely full and brimming over kind of guy. But the past few months have been rough. (The previous sentence is an understatement of epic proportions.)

June 15th, his partner of 17 years slipped quietly away from cancer, with Dad and her son beside her.

Dorothy, me and Dad during happy times on an Oregon vacation with my sister and her family.

We loved having Dad with us for the summer. It wasn't easy for him, though, to be away from his life in NJ, his fun, feisty friends, my stepsister and her family and the place he called home for over 35 years.

But Dad enjoyed lots of Phillies games on TV with the boys, coffee with my hubby, time with Dorothy's son, Michael, and Dorothy's brother, Blair, and, well, a memorable run-in with an attack goose. (Didn't know Dad could run that fast!)

Dad with Andrew, goofing around in a goose-free park.

As if losing his wife and having to move from his home wasn't enough, Dad's "vacation" in Vegas with my sister and his best friend three weeks ago turned into an ambulance ride to the hospital where he needed to have triple bypass surgery.

Thanks so Southwest Airlines, I was able to get a flight to Vegas before Dad's surgery. And I was able to stay for a week so my sister and I could be mother hens by Dad's bedside.

Know what? Dad's doing great. The day of surgery he was up and walking. Less than two weeks later, he was on the exercise bike and walking steps in rehab. A huge thanks to my sister, Sherry, bro-in-law, Ben and nifty nephew, Ethan, for taking such good care of him. He's recovering in their happy home now.

If you'd like to drop a note or birthday greeting to my dad, send it to the address below, and I'll make sure he gets it: Jack Piltz, P.O. Box 2154, Jupiter, FL 33468-2154.

Most creative comments will be selected on Thursday, September 22nd. (Please check back to see if your comment was selected.)

The celebrity judges are as follows:

Jazzy Jaz

Tennis Ball Teddy

Benji, aka Butthead

Enter your brief creative comment and maybe you'll have something in common with Alex, Ken and Jack (my dad), who all have copies of OLIVIA BEAN, TRIVIA QUEEN!

This contest is not open to residents of the State of Confusion or any of its territories. Decision of judges is final. Bribes in the form of kibble will be happily accepted. Void where fun and silliness are prohibited.